Self-Employment Could Be a Good Initiative

A. K. M. Atiqur Rahman
7th December, 2017 09:41:58

Few days back, I was discussing something with one of my friends at his office. There I met a young man who was travelling in various offices in search of a suitable job.

Seeing his interest, I shared with him an idea of self-employment instead of running here and there for a job so that he would not only be the owner of a business entity, but would also be able to create job opportunities for others.

In our country, it is usually taken that one should find a job after finishing study.

That means the purpose of education is to do a job. But, the purpose of education should be to acquire knowledge and to practice that in the workplace. Here the workplace is not a place for job only. The work might be a job or creative work or doing business.

As I feel, the factors that can be attributed to the success or prosperity of a business organisation are - cooperation, open mindedness, partnership, integrity and mutual trust. And these are not just the key to business and trade, but those can also serve as the base for establishing a safe, prosperous, just and enduring modern world. However, in the context of reality, the question of application of those factors in Bangladesh remains unanswered. In order to make the present generation self-reliant, I would like to reiterate that both the public and private sectors can play a vital role in creating a business-friendly environment in the country by creating new business establishments or by encouraging and extending necessary cooperation to the existing business establishments for their development and strengthening. In addition, to make the production and marketing of Bangladeshi products at international standard, proper attention and care should be given in innovative work. Goods of international standard not only bring foreign currency for the country, but place country’s reputation and identity to the world.

Cooperation: No business can be developed or expanded without cooperation. It needs cooperation from the dear ones to the peoples of different levels of society and state machinery. Cooperation is a crucial issue for the business organisations involved in production. Cooperation could come in two ways – externally (from outside organisation or individual) and internally (from own employees). And this cooperation has to be continuous, from the inception until the business survives. We know that in the present world, working jointly with others can bring better results. In that system, work experience or knowledge, ability and resources will be brought into a comprehensive network. Though the possibility of quick abolition of hierarchy system from our organisations seems difficult, but it is a good indication that the inter-employee cooperation has already been started in many establishments. Gradually, if this process could be established, there might be a remarkable change in the economy of Bangladesh. The most beneficial sectors will be the information-based products and service providing companies. Such cooperation can also contribute to solve many problems existing in our society.

Open mindedness: Free or open-mind mentality is usually praised by everyone. In an open mindset, one can find many qualities like clarity, transparency, freedom, flexibility, excitement, commitment and accessibility. An open minded leadership can lead an organisation to its expansion and strengthening. The present world is also progressing towards transparency in all public and private sectors, especially in economic activities.

Transparency guarantees accountability and at the same time, establishes commitment. Besides, the acceptance of open minded is known to everybody. It can change past thoughts or ideas in the light of establishment’s strategy, management and obstacles, if necessary information on demand of products and services to the customers reaches to the employees of that establishment. In this way, the company is able to survive by taking necessary steps by producing customer friendly products.

We can see that the society is advancing everyday towards open-mind mentality with economic development. The society or the country is progressing as faster as this mental openness is spreading. One time which was considered secret, today that is being revealed to the public very easily. This is a good sign. This process deserves our immediate involvement.

Partnership: If it is open mindedness to share information among the members of any private or public establishment, then sharing the capital that generates profit of an organisation is known as partnership. That’s why partnership means sharing of work, thoughts or planning. Here, capital does not mean the money. To meet the market demand, an organisation needs a strong base built through sharing of practices, knowledge or experience, quality and technology. And these are resulted from the collective efforts of the public and private sectors.

The issue of partnership is not very familiar to our business or industry sector, although its partial practices may be seen in many organisations. In fact, it takes an organisation towards development by strengthening its internal discipline. It has given better results while applied in business organisations or manufacturing industries in many developed countries of the world. Because, partnership binds all employees with the responsibilities of the organisation and it also creates a sense of belonging. Everyone believes that their lives and livelihoods are associated with good and bad of the organisation. The only way remains open - how to improve the organisation.

Integrity: Integrity is very important for a company or organisation. It presents the organisation to the people elaborately, focuses good and bad correctly. However, it is essential in order to ensure transparency in the present complex network era.

Transparency of an organisation means publication of all financial information as well as the bargaining position starting from the motivation of the employees; disclosure of the effect of environment on the new company, factory or organisation; looking after the interests of others and ensuring accountability as per commitments. With the transparency of these three values, namely honesty, understanding and accountability, trust and integrity are built. Trust in business or society is the expectation on others that they would be honest, considerate, accountable and open minded.

When an organisation is based on trust, then its network would be collaborative in character. On the other hand, lack of trust creates disputes, conflicts and inefficiency. If it happens, the organisation has to waste time and resources for defensive measures.

Business management is not an easy job in keeping with the same speed as people’s changing demands. The joint efforts of business leaders and government, with their far-sight, talent and communication skills, can convince other leaders of the society to agree in taking the responsibility to face the challenges of the next generation. Government and non-government organisations must be committed to the society in maintaining greater consistency in social and environmental issues. At the same time, they should have the ability to find practical and profitable solutions for the well-being of all.

Interdependency: Mutual dependence can guide any organisation, especially industrial or business organisation, in many ways, its working system or decision making. We know that as much connections and interdependence between the different communities will grow, the more we will know and understand each other, and create a bond. The dependency will create trust, which will accelerate everyone’s welfare through mutual cooperation. In particular, following the new labour formation, four key pillars such as business, government, city and internet will inspire every person of the society.

In the present world, the way of living alone is shrinking. That day is not far away, when trust, transparency and cooperation will be the way to make stability longer. And in that case, these would be the most important factors for business and industry sectors.

Conclusion: Whether it is good or bad, we can see the introduction of a new framework of connectivity in our society that is bringing remarkable changes in every field of life. Nobody can guarantee that these changes would always bring our welfare. However, it would bring prosperity for the society and the country if a person or an organisation runs the social and economic innovation following the above mentioned policies.

Innovators always show the way to advance. Our responsibility here is to utilise the systemic creativity and its expansion for social changes. Each of us has a role and we can all participate directly. The new world of possibilities depends on how earnestly we can develop innovative products and services or new social innovation that will solve social problems. I believe the people of Bangladesh, especially the young generation, will move forward with that responsibility to set themselves properly. The educated youths, instead of roaming around in search of work, will not only attain self dependency by organising own workplaces, but will play a significant role in solving the country’s unemployment problem as well as poverty. In this context, I would like to mention that we should come forward to help them in our ways. And in this way we can encourage our youngsters to build a prosperous Bangladesh.